Coastal Management Tools and Databases for the

Sevastopol Bay (Crimea)

S. Konovalov(1)

, V. Vladymyrov(2)

, V. Dolotov(1,3)

,

A. Sergeeva(2)

, Yu. Goryachkin(1,4)

, Yu. Vnukov(1)

,

O. Moiseenko(1)

, S. Alyemov(2,5)

, N. Orekhova(1)

and

L. Zharova(1)

(1) Marine Hydrophysical Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2,

Kapitanskaya Street, Sevastopol 99011, Ukraine.

Tel: +38-050-5881952 Fax: +38 069 2554253

E-mail: sergey_konovalov@yahoo.com (2)

Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, National Academy of Sciences of

Ukraine, 2, Nakhimova Avenue, Sevastopol 99011, Ukraine.

Tel: +38-050-3251035 Fax: +38-069-2557813

E-mail: v.vladymyrov@ibss.org.ua (3)

E-mail: vdolotov@mail.ru (4)

E-mail: yngor@yandex.ru (5)

E-mail: numa_63@mail.ru

Abstract

The Bay of Sevastopol is one of rare natural inland harbors of the coast of

Crimea on the Black Sea that has being serving as a marine shelter and residence for

human civilizations for over 25 centuries. This bay has been under very heavy

anthropogenic and industrial pressure for several decades, though it is an area that is

vitally valuable for recreation and inhabitation. The Bay of Sevastopol has become and

remains a subject of intensive oceanographic investigations and quarterly monitoring

since 1997, though some data goes back to as far as the 1970’s. We have been

intensively studying various issues of the Sevastopol Bay physics, biogeochemistry,

biology, and pollution. In 2010, the EC FP7 PEGASO project was launched to address

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) issues, to provide a regional assessment

of environmental conditions, to evaluate local conditions and introduce tools and

mechanisms (platform) for implementation of the ICZM Protocol. Current results of the

long-term monitoring and implementation of the PEGASO project are reported here.

Introduction

The Bay of Sevastopol (Fig. 1) is one of rare natural inland harbors of the coast

of Crimea on the Black Sea that has being serving as a marine shelter and residence for

a sequence of human civilizations for over 25 centuries starting with Ancient Greek city

Khersoness that was found here in the 6th

century B.C.

This bay has been under very heavy anthropogenic pollution for several recent

decades, though it is an area that is vitally valuable for recreation and inhabitation

(Fig. 2). This bay that is several hundred meters wide in its seaward part goes inland for

about 8 km providing excellent conditions for ship docking, harboring, and other

maritime activities. This is the very reason that Sevastopol as a navy base has been

settled around the bay. This bay had also been used for intensive fishing and harvesting

other marine biological resources before Navy related activities and pollution almost

completely destroyed its ecosystem and minimized its biodiversity to a state of a

polluted marine desert.

Fig. 1: The Sevastopol Bay.

The modern history of the Sevastopol Bay goes back to 1783, when Russian

Navy entered the bay to set up the navy base and the city itself. Initial oceanographic

studies were limited to the bay's bathymetry, characteristics of the bottom sediments,

and mapping the bay's coastline and surrounding coasts of Crimea. These data have

been used in the first hydrographical atlas of the Black Sea, published in 1841 (cited

from Sailing Directions: Black and Azov seas, 1892).

Zernov S.A. was probably the first to study biological properties of the bay in

1910-1911 and to warn in 1913 that the bay's biodiversity is vulnerable to

anthropogenic influences (Zernov, 1913). Indeed, negative changes in biological and

biogeochemical properties have been reported since the 1930's (Mironov et al., 2003).

Fig. 2: Anthropogenic (left panel) and recreational (right panel) activities in the

Sevastopol Bay.

There was a period from 1951 to 1958, when seasonal monitoring of physical,

biological, and biogeochemical properties was undertaken (Dobrzhanskaya, 1960).

Though seasonal behavior of oxygen and nutrients remained similar to the open sea, the

concentrations of nutrients and biological oxygen demand increased and they were 1.5

to 4 times higher, as compared to other pristine coastal regions of Crimea.

Results of the bay's surveys in the 1960's demonstrated a sharp increase in the

year-round concentrations of nutrients, very high values of biological oxygen demand,

intensive eutrophication of the bay (Ermakova and Velichkevich, 1968). That was the

period when hypoxia was first detected and reported in the bottom layer of waters: the

level of oxygen saturation dropped to 42% and the oxygen concentration was as low as

2.19 ml/l. That was the result of increased primary production, as the oxygen saturation

reached 190% in the euphotic layer. Concentrations of nutrients in the bay increased up

to 100-fold and the biological oxygen demand increased 6-10-fold from the 1950's to

1960's. The situation in the biological structure of the bay's ecosystem was catastrophic.

The Sevastopol Bay was lost for any commercial harvesting of marine resources.

The situation became worse in the 1970's and 1980's, as dams were constructed

at the bay's entrance in 1976-1977 decreasing the water exchange between the bay and

the sea by 50%, while anthropogenic pollution and eutrophication were in progress

(Hydrometeorology and hydrochemistry of the seas of USSR, 1996). Biogeochemical

conditions in the bay's environment became so extreme that hypoxia was a regular

feature of the inner part of the bay on summer time. To make matter worse, sediments

became sulfidic and serve as a source of hydrogen sulfide for the bottom layer of water

and destroying benthic communities. Yet, oxygen deficit in the bottom waters, anoxic

conditions in the bottom sediments, extreme concentrations of nutrients were not

discussed because more severe ecological problems emerged. The concentration of oil

and heavy metals could exceed 10-fold the maximum possible concentrations for the

coastal waters, but data was classified because the bay became the USSR Navy

stronghold and the bay's ecological problems were subdued.

After the USSR collapsed in 1991 and its economy and navy degraded in the

1990's, the ecosystem of the bay was presumably recovering, but very limited data and

publications were available (Morochkovsky and Kovalchuk, 1993). Though navy

activities declined after 1991, the Sevastopol Bay gradually became a place for a big

and intensively growing seaport, ship docking, sea-land transportation of various goods.

Recreational business was developing. The population of Sevastopol of about 400,000

permanent residents might easily double on summer time. Still, the major part of

municipal and industrial sewage waters (~10,000 m3 per day) was discharged to the bay

via ~30 sewers without or after minimal treatment. This has already resulted in further

anoxic (sulfidic) conditions from bottom sediments (Orekhova and Konovalov, 2009b)

to near-bottom layers of water, where the concentration of sulfide has already reached

40 µM (Konovalov, 2009).

The Bay of Sevastopol has become and remains the subject of regular

oceanographic investigations and monitoring since 1997. It has been initiated by several

international projects (INTAS 96-1961, INTAS 99-01390, INTAS 03-51-6196) and it is

currently supported by national ("Marine Expeditions", "Fundamental Oceanography",

"Ecoshelf", "Interaction" 05-05-10У) and international (EC FP7 "Hypox" #226213)

projects. Various issues of the Sevastopol Bay meteorology, hydrology,

biogeochemistry, biology, and chemical pollution have been intensively studied. These

data have been traditionally summarized in the form of oceanographic atlases

(Konovalov et al., 2009). Though these atlases are a valuable source of scientific

information, its form has always limited its utilization to scientific studies leaving

stakeholders and managers with the problems of data accessibility and utilization of

data of different nature for integrated coastal zone management.

The FP7 PEGASO project (2010-2014, #244170) has been recently launched to

investigate different aspects of and local conditions for integrated coastal zone

management (ICZM) and application of the ICZM Protocol in the Mediterranean and

Black Seas. The Bay of Sevastopol has been chosen as one of the sites (CASES) for

practical application of the results of the project, to assess local conditions and provide

practically useful end-products for the purpose of ICZM implementation. Thus, when

the ICZM Protocol is developed, adopted, and put in force, the local stakeholders will

have practical tools to implement the ICZM principles.

This publication is to present data of oceanographic monitoring of the

Sevastopol Bay and tools for coastal management of the Bay of Sevastopol, which are

developed within the PEGASO project and placed on web to remain available after the

PEGASO project expires.

Results and discussion

Monitoring of the Sevastopol Bay and its results (data bases and atlases)

Regular oceanographic studies and monitoring of environmental conditions of

the Sevastopol Bay have typically been carried out at 32 oceanographic stations (Fig. 3)

at a quarterly basis since 1997.

Results of monitoring have been contributed to data bases of the National

oceanographic center of Ukraine (http://www.nodc.org.ua/) and presented in a number

of publications and, in particular, in the form of "Atlas of the Sebastopol Bay

oceanographic properties" (Konovalov et al., 2009). This has made possible a detailed

oceanographic description of the Sevastopol Bay.

Fig. 3: Oceanographic stations in the Sevastopol Bay.

Thermohaline structure and water dynamics

There is an average transport of water from the bay to the sea due to the

incoming riverine and coastal waters to the bay. Yet, there is a transport of water from

the sea to the bay in the bottom layer. Incoming waters of a higher salinity are mixed

with the surface waters of a lower salinity to form the observed distributions of salinity

(Fig. 4). This mixing is restricted on summer time due to the presence of the seasonal

thermocline and a weaker wind stress. As the result, both salinity and temperature

support a two-layer structure with warmer and less saline waters in the upper layer and

colder and saltier waters in deeper layers of the bay. Mixing is far more intensive on

winter time, when cold surface waters downwell and intensify mixing between the

surface and bottom waters. As the result, the thermohaline structure reveals a lateral

stratification on winter time with colder brackish waters in the inner part of the bay and

warmer and saltier waters in the seaward part of the bay.

These features of the water stratification are of extreme importance for the

chemical structure and its seasonal changes.

Biogeochemical properties

The bay's waters are usually well saturated with oxygen on winter time. The

level of saturation varies from ~90% in the bottom layer of waters close to the river

mouth to 100% in the surface layer (Fig. 5). Saturation of the surface waters remain

slightly below 100% due to intensive cooling of waters and increasing solubility of

oxygen with decreasing temperature. Yet, the level of saturation can be substantially

lower for "warm" winters and it could be as low as 75%.

On summer time, the level of oxygen saturation for the surface layer varies from

95 to 130% (Fig. 5), yet the highest traced by now value has been 294%. The level of

oxygen saturation at the depth of 1 m above the bottom usually varies 70 to 105%, yet

the lowest traced value has been 27%. The traced concentrations of oxygen have varied

from 5.1 to 15.2 ml/l in the surface layer and from 1.4 to 8.0 ml/l at the depth of 1 m

above the bottom. The deepest 10 cm layer of water regularly becomes anoxic and even

sulfidic on summer time. Results of recent voltammetric profiling of the bottom

sediments (Orekhova and Konovalov, 2009a) have revealed that penetration of oxygen

does not exceed 2-5 mm, but sulfide is in the deeper layers and it can and does reach the

surface of sediments and may easily consume oxygen from the bottom layer of waters.

July February

Fig. 4: Summer (left panel) and winter (right panel) distributions of temperature,

salinity and density.

February and March are two months, when hypoxia events in the bottom layer

have not yet been observed. These are two most cold months and intensive vertical

convective ventilation provides the downward flux of oxygen that is enough to meet the

current oxygen demand. All other months are the part of the year, when hypoxia events

have been detected, but the extent and intensity of hypoxia depends on various

conditions. Still, the most extreme hypoxia events have been and are regularly detected

in July and August, when all further discussed issues contribute to oxygen consumption

and/or limit the oxygen flux.

Hypoxia and anoxia in the bottom layer of water on summer time is a result of a

number of physical, biological, biogeochemical, and geochemical processes:

Strong vertical stratification due to the presence of warm and brackish riverine

surface waters limits the vertical mixing and the downward flux of oxygen to the

bottom waters;

Weak winds limit lateral exchange and ventilation of the bottom layer with the

sea waters;

Artificially limited water exchange between the open sea and the bay due to

coastal dams supports a longer residence time of the bay's waters, thus a smaller

flux of oxygen to the bay;

Anthropogenically supported load of nutrients and organic matter to the bay's

waters is the reason of a dramatically increased export production and the flux of

organic carbon to the bottom waters and sediments;

Increased concentrations of organic carbon in the bottom sediments result in

anoxic/sulfidic conditions and support the flux of dissolved sulfides from

sediments to the bottom layer of water.

July February

Fig. 5: Summer (left panel) and winter (right panel) distributions of oxygen.

Nitrate and phosphate are the most important forms of inorganic nutrients in the

waters of the bay (Ivanov et al., 2006). The major sources of these nutrients are related

to anthropogenic activities at the coast, while the sources of silicates are natural and

related to its load with riverine and underground waters. Processes of primary

production, sinking and respiration of organic matter in the water column, and burial of

organic matter in sediments are the major processes governing the spatial and vertical

distribution of nutrients in the bay's waters and seasonal changes in these distributions.

As a typical example, the distribution of nitrate (Fig. 6) reveals that its

maximum concentrations are typically traced in the surface layer and in those parts of

the bay, where anthropogenic sources are most expected.

Seasonal variations in the distribution of nitrate are the result of several

processes:

Intensive mixing of waters in winter results in higher concentrations of nitrate in

the bottom waters of the major part of the bay;

Anthropogenically supported load of nutrients and organic matter to the bay's

waters is the reason of dramatically increased concentrations of nitrate in some

inner parts of the bay;

Intensive production of particulate organic matter in summer and its sinking and

respiration below the thermocline result in elevated concentrations of nitrate in

the bottom waters of those parts of the bay, where organic matter is produced or

discharged;

Strong vertical stratification and weak wind stress in summer result in

conservation of spatially uneven distribution of nitrate.

Generally, the nitrate varies from analytically undetectable concentrations to as

much as 141 µM with the average concentration of 3.8 µM. This values is really high

and it exceeds more than 100-fold the nitrate concentrations in the coastal waters

outside the Sevastopol Bay.

July February

Fig. 6: Summer (left panel) and winter (right panel) distributions of nitrate.

Pollution Level Index

Another dimension of the work on monitoring the Sevastopol Bay

oceanographic properties is addressed to developing of pollution level indexes (PLI)

that can be and are used to estimate the level of pollution and to identify provinces

according the level of pollution (Fig. 7). These indexes are applied to the bottom

sediments.

There are very many currently monitored chemical parameters in the bottom

sediments of the Sevastopol Bay and individual analysis of all of them is exhausting and

folds up the picture in numerous details. The only known option (Tomlinson et al.,

1980) is to generate an index that would be a combination of several considered

parameters and that would let to join parameters of different nature, scale and

importance for the state of the monitored environment. There are several proposed

indexes and we have used two of them.

PLIi=Ci/Cb, (1)

where PLIi is a value of PLI for an individual contaminant, Ci is the measured

concentration of a contaminant and Cb is a background concentration of this

contaminant.

√∏

, (2)

where PLI is a general index for n contaminants.

This PLI makes possible to trace the major sources of contaminants and to

identify the most polluted areas of the bay (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7: PLI of the Sevastopol Bay sediments.

PEGASO tools for the Sevastopol Bay

We are actually developing several tools for coastal management of the Bay of

Sevastopol, which are placed on web (http://www.iczm.org.ua/ and

http://wiki.iczm.org.ua/) and will stay after the PEGASO project expires. This is a web-

portal and a stand-alone GIS type electronic system downloadable from

http://wiki.iczm.org.ua/en/index.php/Download_the_latest_version_of_the_atlas and

available on CD (sergey_konovalov@yahoo.com).

This system incorporates an electronic version of the atlas (Fig. 8) and an

interactive electronic atlas with a possibility to construct maps and apply various

indexes (Fig. 9) of the state of the marine environment. It also incorporates various

national and international legislative documents and regulations for environmental

protection.

Scientific support, which is one of the components of ICZM, assumes

participation of various specialists and utilization of various data depending on a

specific task. These specialists are to use their experience and available data in order to

extract the needed information, to transform it, and to evaluate available information for

the purposes of ICZM. The major disadvantage of traditional sources of data, which are

atlases and data base, is the need to address various specialists. Geographic Information

Systems (GIS) are more helpful, but they are still oriented on data presentation, rather

33.51 33.52 33.53 33.54 33.55 33.56 33.57 33.58 33.59 33.60

44.60

44.61

44.62

44.635.51

3.04

2.17

10.71

2.69

1

than data analysis. Besides, Geographic Information Systems rarely allow data

manipulating. This is the reason that we have designed the system incorporating all

known digital atlas and GIS features, but also allowing interaction with data and

application of different ISZM tools. The major of these tools are indexes and scenarios.

While interaction with data makes possible to construct different maps, which have not

existed and/or been preloaded, tools make possible to analyze data. This allows a

manager to limit the number of scientists involved in the ICZM process, but more

important a possibility to verify different options without additional interactions with

scientists. Thus, for example, a "traffic light" index (Fig. 9) has been constructed and

applied in order to analyze the reasons of and possible responses to persistent deficit of

oxygen in the bottom waters of the Sevastopol Bay. Information on the municipal

structure, locations and characteristics of waste–water discharges, the thermohaline

structure of the water column has been combined with the generated digital maps and

indexes in order to show the anthropogenic nature of this ecological problem.

Fig. 8: An example of maps in the electronic version of the atlas of the Sevastopol Bay.

Ultimately, this system will also incorporate possibilities to construct and

evaluate possible scenarios depending on coastal and maritime spatial planning and

urban development issues. The major purpose of these activities is to support

stakeholders with data and tools for implementation of the ICZM Protocol and its

principles.

Conclusions

Regular oceanographic studies and monitoring of environmental conditions of

the Sevastopol Bay have typically been carried out since 1997. Results of monitoring

have been contributed to data bases of the National oceanographic center of Ukraine

(http://www.nodc.org.ua/) and presented in a number of publications and, in particular,

in the form of "Atlas of the Sebastopol Bay oceanographic properties" (Konovalov et

al., 2009).

Several tools for coastal management of the Bay of Sevastopol are developed

within the EC FP7 PEGASO project. These tools are placed on web

(http://www.iczm.org.ua/ and http://wiki.iczm.org.ua/) and will stay after the PEGASO

project expires.

Fig. 9: An example of index maps and application of GIS features for evaluation of

environmental conditions in the Sevastopol Bay.

Acknowledgements

This publication has become possible as a part of the EC FP7 "People for

Ecosystem Based Governance in Assessing Sustainable Development of Ocean and

Coast" project (PEGASO, #244170). A part of this work has been supported from EC

7thFP project "In situ monitoring of oxygen depletion in hypoxic ecosystems of coastal

and open seas, and land-locked water bodies" (HYPOX, #226213). The major part of

data has been obtained within projects of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

("Marine Expeditions", "Fundamental Oceanography", "Ecoshelf", "Interaction" 05-05-

10У).

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